Bittersweet Cruor
by emmarumbelle
Summary: Levi has never trusted anyone as much as he trusts Erwin and Petra. But things aren't always what they seem. Did he really made the right choice by letting them in? Are they truly ones to be believed, or could they be traitors? He thought he knew the answers to those questions...


Ok, so before you read i have to explain two things, BUT since explaining them would kinda ruin the mysteriousness of the story (spoiling it) i'm going to put it in author's notes at the end of the fic.. So if you still wanna be spoiled you can scroll down, but you can also figure out what's going on as you read (i hope). Anyways, i really hope you enjoy this, have a great day!

Disclaimer: I don't own Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin or any of its characters.

* * *

She took the knife out of his chest without breaking his gaze. He fell on his knees at the sudden shot of pain, breathing heavily. His expression showed a mixture of betrayal and hurt, both physically and mentally. He moved his hands towards the wounded area, and feeling them wet, he brought them to his line of vision: they were soaking with blood. Red was all he could see. "Why?" he said with as much force as he could muster.

She smiled very pleased of herself and crouched beside him. "Well, my dear, what did you honestly expect?"

The blood loss didn't allow him to stay in his position any longer so before he could tell her anything in return, he fell on his side. He clutched his chest in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but it was to no avail: his white shirt was already drenched on his own fluid, sticky and dense. A new shot of pain invaded his body as he coughed, painting of red his surroundings.

"You know, Levi. I was told it would be much harder to kill you. I guess Erwin was wrong" she said proudly. The new statement only made his desire to live stronger. The people he trusted the most had stabbed him in the back (one almost literally) and he wanted to make them pay. But his consciousness was slipping away. His anger started to vanish as pure sadness settled. He truly hadn't made any significant bond in his life, any decisive action. Both his death and life had become meaningless the moment Petra turned the knife inside of him.

He had once thought that trusting people wasn't natural for him, that he doubted everyone around him, and that this made him stronger, harder to hurt. He had been incredibly wrong. Not only did he believe in them, but it all had been fatal.

_/_

_The 58__th__ expedition outside the walls was in order, though this time things were radically different. The fact that the Military Police had close tabs on the Scouting Legion and was undoubtedly in search of Historia, Eren and the information that they might've accessed through them only complicated the situation more. Pastor Nick's death had only been the first direct attack at them and since then they had acted much more carefully. So not only did a significant amount of time pass between the last expedition and the current, but this time they were questioning their whole purpose of fighting: 'were titans actually human beings? Was it possible that they had been killing beings of their own? Thankfully this new knowledge was only held by few among the Scouting Legion, but the fact that Levi and Hanji were reluctant to kill any titans when it was necessary only made the situation a hundred times more dangerous than it would have normally been. _

_In a brief moment of clarity, the Captain attached his 3DMG to the nape of a titan and willed himself towards it. When he reached it, he took it down in a swift movement making it fall as it started to evaporate. But this time it was different. As Levi stepped off its corpse and walked slowly through the grass, he was shaking. It felt as if it was his first kill, but not quite. He hadn't realized how much the new discovery had affected him, he just figured he could get past that knowledge for humanity's benefit, but voices in his head yelled 'murderer', 'killer', 'disgusting', 'thug', and he agreed with them. He had fought for many years against those giant monsters and even before that he hadn't been necessarily a good civilian. But something he had realized not too long after he joined the Scouting Legion was that as much as he had despised it at first, he saw the elimination of the titans as some sort of a redemption for all he had done. Now he was sure that instead of clearing his conscience he had only been tarnishing it more. So he saw the little motivation he had left vanish in front of his eyes. He remembered his comrades, people that died defending a cause that they knew nothing about. He dropped his gear to the ground and promptly fell with it. He didn't care about the footsteps getting closer or his teammates yelling his name. He just wanted it to be over. He didn't want to think anymore._

/

He closed his eyes as a single tear fell from his face. He had reached his end.

The sound of footsteps and the warmth of another human body close to him forced him to see once again, as blurry as that was. _But they didn't feel human, they were too loud, too hot… something wasn't right._

Petra leaned in pressing a soft peck on his lips. "I'm doing this for you" Those were the last words he heard before he blacked out.

Once she made sure he wouldn't make a move any longer, she stood up trying to stop her legs from shaking, trying not to cry, telling herself it was for the best. She knew she was right. So she took a deep breath and walked all the way outside.

Taking a last look at her fallen lover, she said: "It had to be this way… you'll be remembered as a hero now"

_/_

_He heard an ear piercing scream come from above him. Maybe someone was trying to protect him, but whoever that was, they had failed miserably._

_Suddenly it all came to a stop, everything went silent. He didn't know what it was, but he couldn't possibly care for it either. That was until he blinked. When he did so, he realized he was facing the commander. Erwin looked furious, but most of all, he looked disappointed. "How could you give up?!" he yelled. But Levi was too far gone, he couldn't even find the words to reply, he didn't know how to, so he just stared back._

_It all went black in a matter of seconds and he couldn't feel anything anymore._

**_When he woke up, Petra was pending to his wounds and everything seemed right once again. He tried to talk, but she told him not to and instead kissed him with incredible care and a sweetness he had missed greatly. "It's good to be back" she said with a big smile on her face._**

**/**

It took him a great deal of strength to open his eyes once again as he woke up, but there was no longer any pain. Once the hardest part was done, standing up was done effortlessly.

Confused as to where he was, he looked at his surroundings. Only when he turned around did he find something familiar: Petra.

**_/_**

**_The moment he was able to stand on his feet once again was the moment he promptly went down on one knee and proposed to her._**

**_Petra had been quite surprised at first, especially given that she didn't even once consider him to be one to commit like that. But eventually, she gave in and happily accepted. "My father is going to hate you!" she said as he hugged her._**

**_They arranged the wedding ceremony (a simple signing in the marital record) for later that day and before they knew it they were already married. No witnesses were necessary and Levi couldn't honestly care less, but he knew that Petra wanted to celebrate somehow with their comrades so he agreed to keep her company._**

**_Once the night wore out, they walked to his room (which happened to be the one with the bigger bed) and didn't waste a single more second before closing the space between each other and kissing._**

**_When he pulled away in favor of breathing, he saw something weird in her, a strange glint in her eye, some secret satisfaction that he couldn't quite figure out. But he ignored the thoughts as he leaned in again._**

**_As he did so though, he noticed a different thing glinting just before he was promptly stabbed on the chest._**

**/**

She was standing there, smiling a very different smile from the one he had seen before. Yes, before: when she killed him. He remembered that suddenly, and the rage burned in him again as he ran towards her in a murderous attempt. He moved his hands towards her neck to strangle her, but instead he fell to the ground as her body dissipated into thin air. He lifted his head to try and figure out what had happened and that was when he noticed: he was in some sort of field in the middle of nowhere. No trees were around, no people, and he couldn't possibly see the walls at the distance.

"I brought you here" said Petra's voice from behind him once again.

He stood up quickly and turned to her. "You killed me!" he yelled as he prepared to attack her. The difference this time was that he couldn't move, as much as he tried to run, he couldn't. "What are you doing?!"

"Levi, calm down. I need you to listen to me for a moment. You're not dead, I had to do it. You need to wake up" she said slowly.

"I don't need anything that you tell me! The only thing I need is to kill _you_!" He charged against her only to fall on his face once again.

"Levi, please! I love you! You need to understand that you have to go back! People need you, you have to take those titans down or else all hope will be lost!" she yelled at him while in the edge of tears.

Looking back at her he could hear it, the screams of his comrades, the excruciating pain on his chest: it was real. "No… you killed me"

"I brought you out of that dream world you created, I had to. I had to break that fake happiness completely if I wanted you to wake up in real life… Levi, don't you get it? You're necessary right now… And if you truly want to die… at least do your best to protect Eren while you're at it… Please, I beg you" she said just loud enough so he could hear through her broken voice.

_/_

_His eyes suddenly snapped open as Eren's titan form roared in his attempt to fight the newly arrived Armored Titan. It seemed to be the only one that had made its presence known that time._

_Levi looked down at this chest and noticed a big new scar as well as his shirt had been ripped open by what seemed to be claws. His maneuver gear had somehow been put back on so the only thing he had to do was prepare. He didn't care if he died, he just wanted it to be worth something._

_When Eren forced the Armored Titan to fall on his face on the ground, Levi rampaged forward at such speed that he could barely be seen. He cut through the titan's nape as if it were the easiest task in the world and promptly cut the teenager inside, out of it._

_That day they were able to capture Reiner Braun making a huge advance for humanity. But as they took him to the carts, a large amount of titans approached Eren. His weakened state made him vulnerable which was why Levi tried to protect him (ordering Mikasa to stay away unless completely necessary). It didn't take long for his gas to run out and his blades to deem useless, but it was a sad sight for everyone involved non-the-less._

_A ten meter titan grabbed him and biting off half of his body, he spat him out, just like what had happened to Erd Gin without even giving him a chance to have a last word, or even a scream._

/

As the pain faded away, he noticed he was once again lying on the field where he had met _her_ before. She was once again there, but this time she looked truly happy.

"You did it" Petra said.

"Eh? What did I… _oh_"

"You're a hero, Levi"

"… Don't say that, we both know I don't deserve that title… I just hope that… that what I did guarantees that every fallen soldier was worthwhile… that their deaths meant something in the end" he said looking down.

"I know it did for me" she smiled. Petra walked closer to him and wrapped her arms around him. "I can finally feel you n-" Before she could finish her sentence, he pressed his lips on hers, pulling her closer into a tight embrace as their tongues lingered in between.

"Don't stab me again" he mumbled causing her to giggle.

"I won't try to kill you if you promise not to try and kill me either, deal?"

"… I don't know… it sounds kind of-" before finishing whatever he intended to say he saw her exasperated expression so instead of bluffing her, he said: "Deal" Closing the space between them once again, they sealed their arrangement.

* * *

**A/N:** It starts off as the normal writing being "dream world" and cursive as the real world. The bolded parts are when real world and "dream world" start to merge. And finally the normal writing is... i don't wanna spoil that much ;)

**A/N2: **Just in case you're wondering, Cruor means blood in latin... idk i didn't wanna write bittersweet blood the proper way, i'm crazy XD


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